Powered by MOMENTUM MEDIA
world of aviation logo

Canberra Airport feels the pain of public service cuts

written by WOFA | May 31, 2013
An artist's impression of the now largely completed Canberra Airport redevelopment.

Canberra Airport says the federal government’s efficiency drive for savings in the public service is leading to falling passenger numbers.

“What we’ve seen is the airlines cutting services to Darwin, to Hobart and to Townsville,” Canberra Airport managing director Stephen Byron told The Canberra Times this week. “We’ve had 26 months of negative numbers as well as those route changes by the airlines.”

BITRE (Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics) figures show 3,304,010 revenue passengers passed through Canberra Airport in 2010, falling 2.9 per cent to 3,208,225 in 2011 and a further 4.4 per cent to 3,065,893 in 2012.

“It is the most unfortunate timing – when the [new] terminal is largely completed and looking shiny and new is the time when your debt exposure is at its highest and it’s at that time that we are seeing these poor passenger numbers, with an obvious impact on revenue,” Byron said.

close

Each day, our subscribers are more informed with the right information.

SIGN UP to the Australian Aviation magazine for high-quality news and features for just $99.95 per year